The Stranger
by October Sky
Summary: The survivor’s trust of Sayid is tested when he and Shannon disappear during a search for Ethan led by Jack and Locke. Meanwhile, when unsuspected wreckage is found by Kate and Sawyer, secrets once well hidden are revealed about each other. Sayid-centric
1. Chapter One

The Stranger

Chapter One

Summary: The survivor's trust of Sayid is tested when he and Shannon disappear during a search for Ethan led by Jack and Locke. Meanwhile, when unsuspected wreckage is found by Kate and Sawyer, deep secrets once well hidden are revealed about each other.

Please Note: I mean no offense by bringing anything to do with Iraq into this. It's just the character that brings it in. Also, I have no clue what life is like in Iraq, or any other country. I don't know if Nuin is even a real name. It just came to me. If it's something that, well, shouldn't be put in stories, please tell! In fact, I know nothing of the Gulf War. I don't even know when it was fought. Yes, I know, I'm ashamed.

Disclaimer: The one and only. Lost belongs to J.J. Abrams and co.

A cool morning breeze left a few pieces of Sayid's hair flying as he looked down at the map he held once more. He sighed as held his hand to his head, trying to figure out the coordinates.

"What are you doing all the way out here?"

Sayid turned around, surprised at being caught. But it was only Kate, approaching him, arms crossed over her chest. He breathed a sigh of relief.

"I could ask you the same," he replied back, rolling up the maps.

"I was just looking for-"

Kate stopped, looking at something behind Sayid. Sayid's eyebrow curled as he turned, looking at what she was staring at. It was Jack, coming out of a path from the woods, a single bag slung over his shoulder. He was pouring water on his neck, completely oblivious to the two others standing on the same path.

"Good morning to you too," Kate mused.

Jack looked up, quickly recovering the shock of being caught.

"Yeah," he said innocently, "what's going on?"

Sayid watched as Kate followed Jack, determined to get some answers.

"What's going on with you Sayid?"

Sayid looked up from the drink he had. Standing over him was Nuin, a soldier he had met a year into the war. Instead of answering, Sayid just shook his head.

"You've got to stop doing this," Nuin said, "the war's been over for two years."

Nuin watched Sayid as he stared deeply into his drink, still not answering.

"Oh man, it's not the war is it?" Nuin said in disbelief. "It's still that girl- Nadia?"

Nuin pulled the stool beside Sayid out from under the counter Sayid was sitting at, at one of the only bars in at least thirty miles. If you could call it a bar. Really, it was the back of a warehouse, with a few chairs and tables thrown in. The lighting was off, and the dust was worse.

"That was three years ago, Sayid," Nuin said, "you hadn't even talked to her in twenty years before that."

"That doesn't matter," Sayid said, standing up.

Nuin looked at Sayid as he prepared to leave.

"What?" Nuin's eyes darkened as he realized what was going on. "Why doesn't it matter? Where are you going?"

Sayid stopped, halfway out the door, and turned around.

"America."

"What's going on?" Kate repeated in fury, following Jack as he tried to get out of her reach. "What's going on with you?"

Jack didn't answer, doing his best to avoid her.

"Jack!" Kate said, fighting for his attention. "Jack, answer me! What's going on with you?"

Jack turned around.

"I just need some time okay?" Jack said. "Just, forget about it."

Kate stared at him, and couldn't help but to think that even though Jack claimed he was relaxed, dark circles that hadn't been there before shaded his eyes, and he sounded all but rested. Jack turned, and began to walk back towards the caves. Kate didn't give up.

"Will you just talk to me?" Kate said, running after him.

"I talked," Jack shrugged, walking on.

Watching him for a moment, Kate stared after him, wondering what was really going on.

Sayid was walking back to the beach when he ran into Boone.

"Boone," he greated simply.

But Boone looked far beyond the simple side.

"I need to warn you," Boone said in a hurry.

"Warn me?" Sayid repeated. "About what?"

"About Shannon," Boone said, "she's using you."

"Using me?"

Sayid could've laughed.

"I'm serious," Boone said, "she sets guys up to help her fall into a bad relationship, because she knows I would come after her."

"Why would she think that?" Sayid asked, confused.

Boone didn't answer. Sayid was about to prove his point when they heard distant noises.

"Is that.. shouting?" Sayid said, straining to hear.

From the look on his face, Boone had heard it too. In mutual eye agreement, they ran for the caves.

"Where have you been?" Kate demanded, following Jack back to the caves.

"Where have I been when?" Jack asked, once again playing innocent.

"Last night!" Kate cried. "And the night before that, and the night before that!"

Jack ignored her, continuing on.

"Jack! Talk to me!"

"About what?"

"About you!" Kate exclaimed, wondering if Jack had always been this stubborn. "About what's going on with you."

"Nothing," Jack said, turning around, "nothing's going on with me. I swear."

"Don't lie to me," Kate said seriously, yet calmly.

She had told herself she was only going to push Jack so far, unlike he had done with her and the case. Sometime though, her plan didn't go as expected.

"I'm not."

They were now entering the caves, and their engaging voices were drawing a crowd. Amongst them was Sun, who was doing a good job at pretending she wasn't understanding a thing.

"Why won't you just talk to me?" Kate said as she followed Jack through the caves. "Or someone?"

"I don't need 'someone'," Jack said, showing his impatience of Kate. "I'm fine."

"You're not!" Kate argued.

She finally caught up to Jack, and spun him around to face her. They met eyes for a split second, and then he continued on his path to his cave.

"Just talk to me," Kate said, taking a breath, "what's going on?"

"You wanna know what's going on?" Jack said, spinning around. "I hate this."

Kate stared at him.

"Hate what?"

Sayid and Boone had quietly entered, adding onto the confused yet interested crowd.

"This," Jack answered, throwing his his anger out, "this situation, this place. I hate it."

Jack looked like a man who had been wanting to get something off his back for a while, but the statement only brought more questions to Kate's mind.

"And we don't?" She said, crossing her arms.

"I hate having to be the doctor," Jack confessed, "I don't want to be the one everyone turns to."

"These people need you," Kate said quietly so that only Jack could hear her.

"These people have probably never gotten hurt in their life before now," Jack said.

He then glanced over towards Sayid, who was standing beside Boone. Both were equally confused.

"Some of these people," he corrected, "and now they think it doesn't matter what they do, it's okay, because they have someone to save them. Well I don't want to save people anymore, Kate. I am not a savior. I'm not these people's God."

The caves were dead silent, all surprised that Jack was capable of saying something like that. Jack locked eyes with Kate, who looked personally taken aback at his statement, and a little hurt. Jack shrugged.

"I quit."

He was about to turn to continue down his original path when Charlie stepped out of a cave. Charlie stopped, suddenly feeling uncomfortable stepping into the errie silence.

"Um.." he said, looking from Jack to the very quite, very confused crowd, "I just thought you should know.. that Claire woke up."

Author's Note: There you have it. The first chapter of "The Stranger". Sorry it took so long to get out, but I haven't been able to get on. Thanks for all of you who reviewed for "Outlaws"! Yall are fantastic! I'm praying that there wont be too much going on this story, what with the search for Ethan, the soon missing Shannon and Sayid, and Sawyer and Kate. I hope I'll set it up all right. Oh, FYI, I was originally going to start this out as a huge Boone/Shannon fight that was going to get physical, but after writing it, I thought I was repeating myself. I also wanting to include Jack quitting, and wasn't sure where to write that in. Oh, and if someone could give me some background info. on the Gulf War and Iraq, that would be very helpful for upcoming flashbacks! Well, hope you enjoyed it.. until next time!

+ October Sky


	2. Chapter Two

The Stranger

Chapter Two

The attentions in the caves immediately turned to Charlie, who looked a little embarrassed on breaking into the conversation. For a moment, no one did anything, either because they didn't know what to do, or were waiting for something to be done. Jack looked at Charlie, who's eyes saned hope. He then looked down at the ground, knowing he didn't want to play the hypocrite, but had no choice. Like he had never said anything at all. Jack crossed over to where Charlie was standing.

"Jack-" Kate started, knowing Jack's silence wasn't a good sign.

Jack stopped to look at her, but only shook his head.

"Wait, there's something else you should know," Charlie said, stopping Jack before he entered. "She doesn't remember anything."

"What?" Jack said in astonishment.

"She doesn't remember anything before the crash," Charlie corrected with helpless guilt, "on the island, and the baby."

Jack looked at Charlie, as if thinking it was a joke, that Charlie would take back his statement. When he never did, Jack nodded, cueing that he was ready, and Charlie stepped aside, leading him in. Michael, Boone, and Sayid followed.

_"You can't do this Sayid."_

_Nuin had followed him back to his rundown apartment on the outskirts of their town where Sayid had purposefully distanced himself from his fellow citizens for the past two years. He followed Sayid inside as he opened the door._

_"You can't keep doing this," Nuin said desperately, "following some dream, some memory."_

_"I can't stay here either," Sayid said, speaking for the first time since confessing his destination._

_"Then come back to the guard," Nuin offered as Sayid opened a dusty closet door that had looked shut for months._

_The inside of the closet looked as dusty in the inside as outside. Though it looked vacant, Sayid took out a bag that looked like it had been prepackaged incase of an emergency evacuation. Or an emergency escape._

_"I can't do that," Sayid said, more to himself than to Nuin._

_"You're a soldier Sayid," Nuin said, "you fight for your country. That's who you are."_

_Throwing the bag over the bag over his shoulder, Sayid turned and looked at Nuin, more serious than he ever had before._

_"No," he said, "it's not._

Jack quickly moved over to beside Claire, who was laying on the airline recliner placed in the caves. She looked a little confused, out of it. He knelt down beside Claire, looking at her, putting on the best act as he could.

"Do you remember me?" He had to asked, fearing the answer.

"Yeah," Claire answered softly, "Jack, right? The doctor?"

Michael, Boone, and Sayid were silent, leaving Kate, who had just entered the caves, looking at Jack. Charlie looked at him as well, wondering what was going on.

"Yeah," Jack said finally, almost as quietly as Claire had been, "the doctor."

To the others, it sounded more like he was repeating it to himself, but they didn't press it.

"How much do you remember?" Jack asked, knowing that Charlie had most likely already put her through this, but wanting to know himself.

"I remember a plane crash," Claire said, closing her eyes and then opening them, looking up at Jack, "and then darkness. Then I woke up on some beach. I think I was having contractions."

Jack breathed a sigh of relief. At least she remembered that much.

"What was the last thing you remember?" Jack asked.

"I remember you talking to me," Claire said, "something about sleeping pills. I got mad, left for the beach. Charlie met me along the way-"

She then turned and looked at Charlie, and the two seemed to have some kind of mutual understanding the others couldn't see.

"And I began having false labor," Claire continued, "I remember being taken, I don't remember by who- Ethan, maybe?"

"Yeah, that was him," Jack said, wondering of all things, why she remembered Ethan.

"I remember some underground place, then going through labor and-"

Her eyes widened in some kind of realization, and Charlie immediately knelt down on the other side of Claire.

"What is it?" Charlie said. "What do you remember?"

"The baby," Claire said, sounding a little frightened, "he took it- Ethan took my baby."

The cave fell silent. Of course. Claire would have no idea about the baby's death.

"Claire," Kate said in regret, "the baby died. I'm- I'm sorry."

She didn't have the heart to tell Claire the truth, that Ethan murdered it.

"What?" Claire said in confusion. "No- no he didn't."

"Claire, I know this is hard," Jack began.

"My baby's alive!" Claire cried suddenly, startling the others. "Ethan- Ethan has it. Ethan's raising my baby."

An errie silence fell in the air as all realization hit Charlie.

"This baby cannot be raised by another," Charlie remembered softly in horror.

"What?" Jack said, staring at Charlie.

"The psychic-" Charlie realized.

"What psychic-"

Charlie cut Jack off.

"Claire," he said urgently, "do you remember the psychic? The psychic in Australia that you went to nine months ago? The one who told you that you must raised the baby? The one who made you an offer about the couple in L.A.?"

"Charlie, what are you talking about-" Jack tried, but was once again cut off.

"What psychic?" Claire said weakly.

"The psychic who stalked you for nine months!" Charlie continued. "The one who bought you the plane ticket to L.A.!"

Once again, the caves were filled with silence, but this time of confusion as horror, as the others began realizing what Charlie was saying.

"I don't remember a psychic," Claire said helplessly.

"Are you saying someone out there knows about the crash?" Sayid cut in. "They know where we are?"

"Yes," Charlie said, "I mean no. I don't know! Claire said that she and a friend went to see a psychic two days after she found out she was pregnant. The psychic knew about the baby! He saw something, but wouldn't say. When she went back, he told her that great danger surrounded the baby, that her good nature must be an influence to its life."

"Do you think he was talking about the island?" Kate wondered out loud, catching on.

"I'm not sure," Charlie said, shaking his head, "but Jack, that baby's still alive. If Ethan somehow erased that memory- he was lying. The baby's alive."

He met eyes with each of the others before continuing.

"Ethan cannot raise this baby."

Jack took a minute to let it all sink in before making up his mind.

"All right," he said, "we'll start looking for him this afternoon."

"Can't we start now?" Charlie asked, eagerly. "While it's still early, I mean?"

"I need to check over Claire," Jack said, shaking his head.

He turned to Boone and Sayid.

"Get Locke," Jack told them, "and get as much help from the beach as you can."

They nodded, and had turned to leave when Claire spoke up again.

"Alex," she said.

Sayid turned around.

"What?" He asked, staring at her.

"It's what I was going to name the baby," Claire explained, "I heard it somewhere, and decided I liked it."

Sayid's face grew dark.

"Do you remember where?" He asked. "Who it was?"

Claire only shook her head, to exhausted to speak.

"What?" Boone asked, confused. "Who's Alex?"

"That's what Danielle said the name of her child was."

The cave dust grew thick as they took this in, spooked by the whole situation. After a few minutes of thinking, Sayid turned and left, Boone following him.

"I need to get some stuff out of my bags," Jack explained to Kate and Charlie as he stood up, "they're still outside."

Kate nodded, following Jack outside.

"What?" He asked as she still followed him out of earshot from the other two.

Kate smiled.

"I'm proud of you," she said, and then left, towards the path to the beach.

Jack watched after her as se left. He shook himself out of it as he realized his gaze had hovered picked up his bags, and walked back to the caves. He lingered by the cave entrance as he saw that Charlie was still talking to Claire. When Charlie saw Jack, he stood up, knowing he would need to give Jack his space.

"Charlie," Claire said feebly.

Charlie stopped, kneeling back down beside her, taking his hand in herd.

"What is it?" He said softly.

"Find Alex," Claire said, her eyes of weak hope staring into Charlie's, "find my baby."

Charlie felt himself message his thumb against the palm of her hand.

"I will," he said, nodding, "I promise."

He stood up, letting her hand fall gracefully out of his, and met eyes with Jack, who nodded, as he left.

Author's Note: Wow, two chapter in one night! Sorry for the screwed up formatting, I'm not sure what caused that, but I think I fixed it. Thanks for the reviews! I was so shocked when I got Rockin'Flute's only a minute after I uploaded! And then another one? Thanks! I don't know if I'll do a Shannon/Boone fight like that in this story, but there will probably be one in the future, especially if I do a Shannon-centric fic. Oh, and so far I have two future fics, "Wish You Were Here"(unofficial Lost title, might change if they give it an official one) and Duex Es Machina(sp?), Locke centric-. Oh yeah, and Hurley's fic, Numbers! I might do that one. I don't know what order, but I think in episode order. This really sucks though because I wanted to end the season with a J/K cliffhanger of a first kiss, and opening season two with them waking up from a night of..um.. love. With many little cliffhangers. Hmm.. I suppose I could just use that as a fic ender, and leave my huge cliffhanger for the finale. Hehe.. I love being the only one(well, maybe with an exception few others) knowing how this is going! Thanks again and I hope you liked it! Until next time..

+ October Sky


	3. Chapter Three

The Stranger

Chapter Three

Disclaimer: Some quotes in this chapter come directly from the promo for "Homecoming".

Kate winced, coming out of her spaced gaze as a branch cut her arm. Her hand immediately flew to the cut, which, to her relief, was only a little ways under the skin. Looking around her, she realized that she had lost er since of direction, and turned slowly, trying to figure out where she was. Apparently getting lost in memories and thoughts and walking didn't go together very well. Rustling of bushes broke her away from her worries, but thinking of Charlie and Claire, brought even more. Kate was pondering rather or not to run, but had no time to think as the thing came straight for her. That thing turned out to be Sawyer, who was running from something in the bushes, and stopped, panting to catch his breath, when he saw Kate, who was having a hard time trying not to pant.

"Were you running for something?" She said, letting a smile out.

"You didn't hear it?" Sawyer said, coming out of terror.

"Hear what?" Kate said, stepping towards him.

"That boar, that's what!" Sawyer exclaimed. "From over their somewhere."

He pointed behind him, but Kate could see nothing besides the jungle and tracks Sawyer had made from running.

"I don't see a thing," Kate said, looking back at him, "are you sure it was a boar."

"Why the hell would I lie about seeing a boar?" Sawyer shot, his eyes glaring, and then he repeated: "you sure didn't hear it?"

"I'm sure," Kate said, crossing her arms, "why were you out here, anyway?"

"I wasn't 'out here'," Sawyer said, irritable, "I was sitting down, minding my own business, when this thing comes up behind me."

"And you ran after it?" Kate said in disbelieve. "God how stupid are you, Sawyer?"

"The thing wouldn't leave me alone!" Sawyer complained.

"So how is it that Locke and Boone have been out looking for boar for a week and find none, yet one is following you around?"

"I dunno, maybe it likes the way I smell," Sawyer said sarcastically. "How am I supposed to know!"

"Okay, fine, fine, calm down," Kate said, amused by the situation, "I'll go out and help you look for your stupid boar."

"What makes you think I want to go out looking for it?" Sawyer said.

"You do want to prove you're sane, don't you?" Kate smirked.

With that, she started down the path she came from, leaving Sawyer to watch as she did, and then before lingering to long, taking the path himself.

Shannon entered the makeshift tent that she and Sayid had put up together as a shelter for their research. It was built where the jungle met the beach, and others rarely went near it, though Shannon had heard some of the rumors flying around about what was going on in their, and she didn't like half of them. Crossing her arms over her chest, she stood off to the side, observing Sayid as he began throwing things into a backpack, acting as though he didn't want anyone else seeing them. He looked like he was a pro at it too, as if he was used to leaving on the spur of the moment, or was used to running away. Who knew, Shannon thought, maybe he was.

"You're not going out there just for Claire, are you?" Shannon spoke up.

The sound of her voice surprised Sayid so much that he dropped the papers he was holding, and nearly leaped back. When he saw it was only Shannon, he breathed a sigh of relief, running his hand through his hair, trying to regain his breath. With ease, he then bent down and picked up the papers, rolling them back as if nothing had happened.

"Are you aware that there are rumors flying around about us?" Shannon continued, walking around the 'tables' they had set up.

"You probably haven't even heard half of them," Sayid said with a hint of amusement, obviously wanting to avoid the subject of his part in the search party.

And Shannon was catching every move.

"If you're just going to hunt down Ethan, why take everything with you, I'll watch over it," Shannon said sincerely.

Sayid didn't answer, though he knew she was speaking truthfully.

"You're going to look for the French woman, aren't you?" Shannon realized. "Danielle?"

Busying himself with packing, Sayid didn't answer.

"Sayid that's stupid!" Shannon exclaimed. "After what happened to you last time?"

"Last time I fell into a trap," Sayid started, "but this time I'm more prepared."

"More prepared?" Shannon said, unable to believe his stupidity. "How could you possibly be more prepared?"

She then caught a glimpse of metal going into Sayid's bag.

"Knives?" Shannon said in disbelief. "You're going to kill a woman who knows how to operate a makeshift electric chair with a knife?"

"Not kill, stab," Sayid corrected, "and only if it comes to it."

He then threw the bag over his shoulder, preparing to leave.

"Let me come with you," Shannon decided at the last moment.

"What?"

"Let me come with you," Shannon repeated.

"I can't," Sayid said.

"Why not?" Shannon cried. "I mean, everybody's always talking about how I never do anything, how I'm so useless! Well this is my chance! Let me do something for once!"

"You've been helping me for two weeks and that's more than enough," Sayid said, holding his reaction to her outburst.

"You're 'helper'?" Shannon repeated. "Is that what you think of me? Because I'd like to be something more than a 'helper' here. I'd like the others to think of me more than a 'helper'. I want to do something, I want to-"

"Prove your brother wrong?" Sayid guessed.

"Yeah," Shannon confessed finally.

Sayid didn't reply, thinking it over. He knew it would be dangerous for her out there, but if she was so determined to go, and after all, did he really want to trek the jungle alone?"

"All right," he agreed at last.

He then looked at Shannon, as if checking her over.

"But you'll need some better-"

"Shoes?" Shannon finished, showing him some hiking boots she had gotten from the luggage.

Sayid sighed, as if thinking of course she'd be ready for anything he'd throw at her.

"Let's go," was all he had left to say.

Jack was packing up at the caves, hiding all of his personal things, and organizing all the medicine, when someone knocked against the cave wall. Turning, he saw that Locke was standing there.

"Nice to see you out here in the human hours of day," Jack commented.

"I heard you we're going out looking for Ethan," Locke said, ignoring the comment.

"We're leaving in a half an hour," Jack said.

"And how are you planning on killing him?

Jack stopped, and looked at Locke.

"What?"

"You wouldn't go out looking for him for no reason," Locke said, stepping into the caves, "you're planning to kill him. How?"

Jack didn't answer, looking at the floor. He hadn't want anyone to find out about the guns, but he knew he wouldn't be able hide them for much longer.

"What's in the case?" Locke asked when Jack didn't answer.

"Which case?" Jack replied casually, going back to his packing.

"The metal case," Locke said, watching Jack closely, "the one you hid in the forest. The one you've been going out to check on everyday."

Locke stepped closer, making sure Jack had his attention.

"What's in it?"

Jack looked at Locke, his eyes plainly telling him he didn't want Locke to know, and then went back to what he was doing.

"You can't go out there without a plan," Locke said seriously, "it's dangerous ground, and Ethan has the advantage."

"But if I could somehow take that advantage away from him-"

"How are you going to do that?" Locke said. "We don't know how long Ethan has been here, or why he's here. All we know is that Ethan knows this place better than we do."

Locke stopped, giving Jack a chance to take this in.

"What's in the case?" He repeated.

"Fine," Jack gave, up, knowing that lives could be depending on his decision, "but I won't tell you. I'll have to show you, and when I do, you have to swear not to ask any questions."

Locke nodded in agreement.

"All right."

Charlie was to join the search party that morning. Last because no one had bothered to even tell him about the party.

"So you were just going out for a kill without even telling me?" Charlie said, coming up from behind Jack.

Jack turned around, immediately hiding something from Charlie's view. But he wasn't quick enough, Charlie saw it anyway.

"What's that, a gun?" Charlie said, incredulous, advancing on Jack. "You were really going to kill him without telling me."

"It's dangerous out there," Jack tried.

"Don't tell me what dangerous is!" Charlie shouted.

"Charlie, calm down-"

"I'm going with you," Charlie cut in, getting to the point. "And don't even try telling me to stay here with Claire."

"Claire's coming with us," Jack admitted.

Charlie's eyes grew wide.

"What?" Charlie said, trying his best not to explode. "Are you insane?"

"Claire was with Ethan for a few weeks," Jack started, "she might be able to help us find something."

"But you're the ones who saved her!" Charlie argued.

Jack didn't have an answer to that, and looked away in guilt.

"Locke talked you into this, didn't you?" Charlie said. "Jack, you can't listen to that guy, he-"

"Knows more about what we're doing than we do," Jack interrupted, "truthfully, I don't understand it either, but I'm trusting him, and you said yourself that you do."

Charlie was quiet. Secretly, he was wanting to kill the both of them, but he slowly began thinking up a plan.

"Fine," he agreed at last, "but I'm going with you-"

Jack looked like he wanted to protest, but didn't say anything.

"But let me wake up Claire."

"All right," Jack nodded finally, "go wake up Claire, but be careful."

"Be careful?" Charlie repeated.

Jack's voice lowered as he spoke, like he didn't want to risk anyone overhearing.

"Her memory's slipping," Jack told him, "everyday it seems like she loses some of it. I don't know what's causing it, but it's not good. We have to do this quick."

Charlie was horrified at the statement, but didn't say anything, for the lack of not knowing what to say. Instead he just nodded, and left the caves.

"Claire!" Charlie shouted as he ran into her cave.

He sat down next to her, and tried to shake her awake. Claire's eyes slowly opened, and looked at Charlie with confusion.

"What is it?" She said, sleeplessly.

Charlie saw the confusion in her eyes, and noted that she didn't add his name before she spoke like she usually did, but he didn't say anything.

"You've got to get up," Charlie said in a hurry, "you've got to get out of here."

He stood up, and began throwing some of her stuff into her bags. Claire sat up, looking at him.

"Charlie, what's going on?"

Charlie stopped, relieved by the comment. A little to relieved for Claire's behalf.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" Claire said, worried.

Shaking himself out of it, Charlie zipped up the bag, and threw it towards Claire, sitting down next to her again.

"Claire, listen to me," Charlie said in a rush, looking to her more seriously than ever, "you've got to go to the beach, around the others there. Stay close to them,but don't make yourself to obvious."

"I don't get it," Claire said, puzzled, "what's going on?"

"Jack's going to ask you to come with him and some others and help them hunt down Ethan," Charlie said, "you've got to say no."

"Why?" Claire questions. "I want to help."

"You can't Claire," Charlie sad, shaking his head.

"Why not?"

"They're using you as bait," Charlie explained, "they're going to use you to lure Ethan to them.

"What's wrong with that?" Claire said, not getting it.

"I'm not going to let Ethan hurt you again," Charlie said.

"You don't have to protect me, Charlie," Claire said, looking at him with eyes that changed the entire mood of the scene.

"I know," Charlie said, "I want to."

They met eyes, both wishing that they could have nothing more than some time alone, without worrying about plane crashes or crazed kidnappers.

"I'm going to go to some people down at the beach," Charlie said, standing up, "but if Jack comes in, do whatever you have to do to stay, all right?"

Claire nodded. Charlie stole one last glance to her, and began to head for the beach.

"Oh, and Charlie?"

Charlie turned around.

"Thanks," Claire said with a small smile.

Charlie returned it, and then turned, leaving for real this time.

Author's Note: A little longer because of the wait. Sorry about that, I just didn't have the time. Thanks for the reviews, and sorry about the formatting mix ups. I'm just praying it doesn't happen again.

Coming up next- Charlie's plan doesn't go as he wants it too, Kate and Sawyer can't find their boar, some Shayid, and a rediscovery.

Until next time..

+ October Sky


	4. Chapter Four

The Stranger

Chapter Four

Relief came over Kate as she sat down, her back easing against the smooth bark of a tree. She took out a bottle of water, and let the liquid cool her insides. Sawyer, on the other hand, wasn't that much for relaxation.

"What are you stopping for?" He demanded.

Sawyer's shirt was full of sweat, and his face and hair were equally as moist.

"We've been searching for your boar all morning," Kate complained, "and all we've found we're a few oranges and a decomposed squirrel."

"Yeah, well then we'll keep looking," Sawyer said, not ready to give up.

He never let authorities scare him, no way was some little boar going to taunt him.

"There is no boar," Kate said, standing back up, "you just imagined it."

"Imagined it?" Sawyer repeated. "Freckles, I couldn't even imagine things when I was a kid."

"I wouldn't doubt it," Kate muttered under her breath.

"What was that?"

"I'm going back to the beach," she recovered, "come if you want."

She turned around to head back down the path, but ran right into Jack, who was with Sayid, Shannon, Locke, and Boone.

"Um.. sorry," she said quietly, embarrassed.

Jack's group didn't' know which to be more surprised of, the fact that Kate and Sawyer were out in the jungle together, or the fact that they were out and Sawyer looked like he had actually been doing something.

"What're you doing out here?" Jack asked, brushing the incident off.

"Don't you mean 'all the way out here'," Kate said as a joke.

"Actually you're only a mile or two off the beach line," Boone corrected.

Kate glared at Sawyer, making a mental note to insult his tracking skills later.

"Wait," Kate said, looking from castaway to castaway, "what're are you doing out here."

The other four glanced at Jack, knowing he'd be skeptical about letting Kate go out looking for Ethan.

"We were-"

"We're going out looking for Ethan," Boone blurted, receiving a glare from Jack and some of the others.

Shannon looked as if she didn't care either way.

"What?" Boone shrugged. "It would've taken you forever to come up with a good lie. I thought we were on some sort of time budget."

"Great," Kate shrugged, "I'm going."

"You can't-" Jack began, but Kate cut him off.

"I'm going," Kate said, in a final tone.

Jack caught Kate's glance to Sawyer that she had done a poor job of trying to hide. Locke saw it too, and sensing that Sawyer coming along was probably the last thing they needed.

"You two should go back to the caves and get Claire," Locke advised.

"Claire?" Kate asked, confused.

"She was going to-" Sayid glanced at Locke, trying to get his wording right, "help us."

"Help you?" Kate iterated, eyebrow raised.

"She was asleep when we left," Locke continued, "we figured we should leave her that way for now, and get a head start on where we should be going."

To Kate, it made no sense, but she decided to go along with it anyway to save time.

"All right," she looked at Sawyer, "let's go."

She didn't give Sawyer a chance to do anything except smirk as she started off down the path to the caves.

The jungle was unusually quiet as Charlie headed back to the caves. Michael had agreed to watch over Claire. Walt was still sleeping anyway, down with a headache. The few island birds were quiet, whatever that was in the jungle was tucked away, and a cool breeze blew the trees, causing a few strands of his blonde hair to lie stray against his forehead. There was little sound at all, so when a leaf crunched a few feet away, Charlie immediately stopped, drawn to the sound.

"Jack?" Charlie asked, his voice shaking. "That you?"

His answer was the feel of cold, jagged steel to his neck.

"Okay Locke, that's not funny anymore.."

He was spun around, and became faced to face with no other than Ethan himself. Throwing down the knife, Ethan resulted to choking, grasping Charlie's bruised neck with both hands.

"Bring her to me Charlie," he said as Charlie gasped for breath.

Ethan then lifted Charlie a few inches above ground, making breathing even harder than before.

"Or I'll kill one of them."

Dropping Charlie without any sympathy as to how he landed, Ethan disappeared as Charlie struggled for breath.

Locke had broken the others up into two groups, Sayid and Shannon as one going northeast, and Locke, Jack, and Boone going north. Apparently Locke and Boone knew the land well. Boone was reluctant to let Shannon go out in the woods, especially with a man he hardly knew. He was about to address this as Charlie came running out of nowhere from a path heading from south. Charlie stopped in front of them, fighting for breath. The first thing the other three noticed was the redness in Charlie's face, the second the fresh finger marks on his neck.

"Charlie, what's wrong?" Jack asked immediately.

"Ethan," Charlie croaked out, pointing towards the path he came down like Ethan would be standing there not far from where he was standing now, "Ethan-"

"What about Ethan?" Locke urged.

"Threaten me," Charlie finished, "he said to bring Claire to him-"

Charlie stopped, trying to adapt to being able to breathe.

"Or he'd kill one of you."

At that moment, as if on cue, a woman's scream came from a few miles southeast. The conversations stopped, and eyes met, knowing who that scream belonged to.

Shannon screamed as she tripped over something sticking out of the sanding ground, losing her balance. She felt two hands catch her before she fell, hitting the dirt face first. Looking up, she saw Sayid standing over her, his hands holding her in a protective grip.

"Perfect catch," she smiled, and he returned it.

After an awkward moment where the two weren't sure what to say, Sayid finally eased Shannon up, though as soon as he saw she was okay, he bent bag down, lifting up what Shannon tripped over. A cable.

"What's that?" Shannon asked at the look of recognition on Sayid's face.

Sayid didn't answer as he began following the cable out to what turned out to be another strip of beach.

"Sayid-" Shannon said slowly in a sort of warning tone.

Following the cable to the ocean, Sayid looked out into the sea, and as Shannon traced his gaze, they both stopped. Another island was floating less than fifty feet away from them. Sayid threw his bag down on the sand, running out towards where the cable fell into the ocean.

"Sayid-"

But once again, Sayid didn't answer as he jumped into the waves, not bothering to take off his shoes first, as if some kind of trance.

"Sayid!"

Shannon hesitated, making up her mind. Then, letting out a cry of frustration, she took off her shoes, and ran after him, jumping into the cool, salty water. She shivered at the first few feet, lowering herself into deeper water, making a mental note to thank Boone for convincing her to take swimming lessons with him when he was ten.

Going in head first, she went after Sayid, only to find herself staring into dark blue space. After swimming five feet, Shannon came back up to surface, gasping for air.

"Sayid!" She gasped, now frightened and regretting her decision to go after him.

What was she thinking, jumping out into the ocean? She could barely swim five feet, let alone fifty, and she just prayed Sayid didn't see the island that floated even further away from them. Frantically, she swam around in circles, looking for any sight of Sayid. At last, she spotted a dark figure emerging from underneath a few feet from her. Shannon swam towards it, ending up in front of Sayid, practically in his arms.

"What are you doing?" Sayid panted, pulling his wet hair out of his face.

"Coming after you!" Shannon yelled over the waves.

"You've got to go back!" Sayid said in a panic. "I lost the cable, and the tides about to come in!"

"What?" Shannon said loudly, not hearing him.

"We need to get to shore," said Sayid.

"I can't," Shannon said, shaking her head, "I can't do it. That's like thirty feet, and I can't swim that well-"

"You grew up in LA, didn't you?"

"I didn't stay there," Shannon said, positively afraid, "and not all of California is beach."

"I know," Sayid said before realizing he had done so.

"You know?"

"Never mind that," Sayid said quickly, "take my hand, I'll help you get to shore."

"Can't we go back our own island?" Shannon said.

She would've laughed any other time, as she was sure she would after. Their own island. Like it was home. Sayid looked at her, and could see how truly frightened she was of going out that deep.

"All right," he agreed, nodding, "we'll go back to shore.

He was stopped short as water sprayed up his noise, and into his mouth, and the same happened to Shannon. She coughed it out as he shook his head, trying to clear it.

"Take my hand," Sayid said again, more kinder this time.

Over the dark water, Sayid held out his hand so that Shannon could see. He looked her in the eye, his dark eyes staring into hers, deeper and more caring than ever. Shannon nodded, finally, and took it, but at that moment, a crashing sound came from behind them. They looked up as a wave of at least six feet rose above them, and Sayid covered Shannon's head, protected her with the shelter of his arms, as they were engulfed by it.

Author's Note: So how was it? I feel s stupid, realizing things I did wrong. The first I've realized is that I had Kate find the plane. After "Whatever the Case May Be" premiered, I had Sawyer going after the package. So can we just pretend we're sticking with the real thing on that one? Also, I think I'm going back and changing Sayid's last flashback, to have him escape to Australia, not America. Don't worry, he is going there, just not right away. Thanks for the reviews! Sorry it's taking me longer to get the chapters out in this one, and that the characterization is a little off. I'm working on it, I promise!

Coming up next: Shannon and Sayid are exiled on an ironically romantic beach, Sawyer and Kate find some unsuspected wreckage, we see a little of Kate's 'bad' side, and Locke and Boone get a little weirder(if possible).

Until next time..

+ October Sky


	5. Chapter Five

The Stranger

Chapter Five

"You have no clue where you're going, do you?" Kate said as she and Sawyer walked down a path that was supposed to be heading to the caves.

Supposed to be.

"I know exactly where I'm going," Sawyer protested, "and if you would shut up for a minute, I might be able to figure out where we are."

"You know your direction ability is zero to none," Kate simpered.

"Well if you're so smart, you tell me where we are!" Sawyer said, irritable.

"For starts," Kate began, "south is that way-" she pointed, "we're going east."

"And how long have you known this?"

"About a half a mile," Kate said with a grin, "I just wanted to see how far you would go."

She looked down to the ground, knowing that if she looked up at Sawyer as she spoke, she'd burst out laughing.

"Country boy," she added under her breath.

"What did you call me?" Sawyer demanded, turning around.

"Just keep going straight," Kate said, "you'll eventually come to a path that turns south."

"You know exactly where we are, don't you?" Sawyer said, glaring at her.

"Pretty much," Kate shrugged.

Sawyer paused for a moment, as if conjuring up a plan.

"Then you would no the short cuts?" Sawyer said, a grin playing on his lips.

"Short cuts?"

"Hell what would a trail be without shortcuts?" Sawyer laughed.

"What's your point," Kate said as she shifted leg balance, annoyed.

"I'll make you a bet," Sawyer began playfully.

"This isn't a game-"

"General thinks it is," Sawyer argued, referring to Locke, "I'll get you back to the caves in twenty minutes, and I get another kiss."

"What kind of bet is that!" Kate exclaimed. "It doesn't even make sense!"

"Trust me Freckles," Sawyer said, started down a new path, "I get out more than you think.

Shannon's eyes slowly opened to grains of damp sand. Groaning, she rolled over, and set up. Her head began spinning and her hand flew to it under instincts, and she held it against her head hard until some of the pain stopped. When the pain finally ceased, at least a little, she checked herself for further injuries, and she was thankful when she found now. She contemplated what to do, until she realized..

_This wasn't the right island._ Shannon looked out to see, and sure enough, their home island floated in front of her almost a mile out. _Great._

"Sayid," she said, staring the island, "the tide took us in the opposite direction. Why would it do that?"

She received no answer, only dead island silence that was soon interrupted by the crashing waves. It was then that she realized the tide was still up, and the waves had carried her in at least five feet from shoreline, yet the salty water still reached to her toes.

"Sayid?" She said, growing worried, looking to the left.

Sayid wasn't there. Fearful and worried, Shannon looked to her right, where Sayid laid a few feet away from her, laying on his back, the waves crashing over him.

"Sayid!" She shouted, as if thinking he'd wake up.

There was, of course, no answer, and without hesitance, Shannon leaped up, and after three tries, managed to drag Sayid a few feet away from the water.

"Hey, Sayid," she said, shaking him.

_This is stupid,_ she thought, _like he can hear me._

"Sayid.." she said, continuing to shake him, too afraid to check for a pulse and too nervous to try CPR.

But her thoughts were broken by a rough cough as Sayid woke up, choking on massive amounts of water he had swallowed. He bent over, spitting it out, and then stopped, letting his breath come back to him.

"Are you okay?" Shannon asked, knowing it was a stupid question, but she wasn't sure what else to ask.

Sayid nodded, slowly breathing.

"Yes," he said, his voice rasp, "I'm fine."

He looked at Shannon, obviously wondering the same.

"Are you?" He asked, speaking his thoughts.

"Yeah," Shannon nodded, "I'm perfect."

She stared out to sea, gazing at their island.

"Now not only am I lost in the middle of nowhere on some stupid island," she said, bringing her knees up to her chin, "but now I'm lost in the middle of nowhere on some stupid island without shoes.

"Well I'm glad you're not worried," Sayid said, laughing a little.

"Yeah, well that's the least of them," she sighed.

It was quiet as they both watched the tide roll in in front of them, seeming like with every wave, the blue sea was growing closer.

"I guess will have to swim back over," she said, dreading it.

"Not yet," Sayid said, "it's too dangerous."

"What?" Shannon said, thinking she had heard him wrong. "Too dangerous?"

"We already know the tide is unusually high around here," Sayid explained, "if we went out there now, we'd just get tossed around again, and we might not be so lucky next time."

"If you can call this lucky," Shannon muttered under her breath.

She stared out towards the island in surprised longing, like she was so closed to getting something, but it was pulled away at the last minute.

"You know, I'd never thought I'd actually want to get back on that island after leaving it," she confessed finally, "like I miss it or something."

"It's only been five minutes," Sayid said, looking at her.

"Yeah, well from how you said it, it sounds like it'll be all night."

_All night.._

The words hit him like bricks. All night, on an island he didn't know, with a girl he knew even less about. Then again, wasn't that what he had done from the beginning? Just without realizing it?

"Well I hope you weren't hungry," he joked dryly, trying to let the thought slide.

Shannon didn't answer, but only snorted, looking down at the sand, looking as though she was already lost in her own world, which for some reason, at the moment, seemed to Sayid as though it was deeper than meets the eye.

Author's Note: Sorry that was short, I just thought those were two good places to end. Thanks for the reviews! I can't believe I've gotten ten already! This story itself will have a major K/S scene, but in the long run, this series will turn J/K, but I'm trying to push the J/K/S love triangle. It might be back and forth. I'm a J/K fan though, so expect a lot of J/K moments. For Skater fans, this is the story for you, or at least the next few chapters. Then it's J/K from there, mostly. Sorry. Once again, thanks.

Coming up next: (sometime next, anyway) Of all the luggage to have fallen out of the plane, achohol just had to be one of them. Only question is, will Sawyer use it to his advantage? And how's Jack's health state, really? What isn't he telling Kate? And what will Boone and Locke do when Charlie ends up going north with them? And what about that nice little island Shannon and Sayid were washed up on? What kind of effect will it have on them, and how will Boone react to it? Many question, many scenes, just not enough time in the world!

Future 'Fated' questions: What's the huge, creepy, past connection between Locke and Boone? Where has Jack been going ever night? Why was Sayid going to America? What happened to Sawyer's(possibly many) foster families? Will they ever find out where they are? And how come the pilot hasn't 'magically' come back from his bloody death? And what will Fluffy the man eating polar bear do when it learns that Sawyer shot his cousin? And what do revengeful squirrels have to do with it all?(Just kidding on the last two!

Until next time..

+ October Sky


	6. Chapter Six

The Stranger

Chapter Six

Note: That I know nothing of foreign cultures. If any of the stuff in Sayid's background sounds wrong, please tell me!

The sun was slowly beginning to set in the calm scenery behind Shannon and Sayid, who were side by side in the sand, staring into the deep purple-gold sunset. They had been quiet for the most part, a casual question asked by the other each time the air grew too quiet for their liking. Sayid had half-heartly answered Shannon's questions about his past, leaving necessary fragments of stories knowledgeable to only himself, and though he didn't know it, Shannon had done the same.

"You said before that romance was the best way to learn a language," Shannon said as she tugged at a loose string of hair that was blowing in the cool breeze around him, "did you learn that from experience?"

Though he had heard the question clearly, Sayid didn't answer, still in realization that this was the first girl that he had really had a conversation with in years. He shook himself out of his thoughts as he felt Shannon's wondering eyes watch him as he searched for an answer.

"No," he said finally, a lusting feeling playing inside him as he did, "I've never been in love."

Sayid knew Shannon's eyes were narrowing at the answer as he didn't further his reply.

"Then how did you learn English?" Shannon asked. "I mean, you were born in Iraq, weren't you?"

For Shannon, who lived her life determined to venture beyond the histories and politicizes that converged in the world, it seemed odd saying the word she had never given so much as a thought to, changing the channel whenever the news came on, and discontinuing her newspaper subscription.

"I learned it in training," Said said with a trace of guilt in his voice, just wishing his story could end there, "I was taught it in school, but I didn't catch on very well, and when my father died when I was fourteen, I quit school to go to war."

Shannon was quiet, not suspecting such an elaborate answer. Sayid began to feel amiss about this, and took the silence as an opportunity for a subject change.

"What about your parents?" He asked her. "They must be worried."

Looking down, Shannon concentrated on a grain of sand, this time letting her hair blow around her as she spoke.

"Actually, my dad left when I was fourteen," she said with her own feeling of longing.

Longing for a man she knew had done wrong, but had loved anyway.

"And I haven't even talked to my step mom in forever," she said.

The guilt and longing feelings of both Shannon and Sayid didn't pass either as they thought of the coincidences of both their stories, with both of their families.

"I'm sorry," Sayid said truthfully.

He had been surprised with the story, expecting parents who loved their kids either too much or too less, giving them what they wanted anyway,

"Don't be," Shannon said quietly, "it's not your fault."

Another awkward moment passed as clouds swam over them, and the gentle touch of sea water sank into the sand in front of them.

"So Boone's your stepbrother?" Sayid asked, determined to keep any further conversation out of him.

"Yeah," Shannon said, clearing a developing lump in her throat, "my mom died when I was two and then my dad met Boone's mom when I was eight. They got married a year later."

Shannon shook her head, realizing how desperately depressing that sounded.

"That doesn't matter anymore," she said, "I haven't been home in ages, and I just talked to Boone a few weeks ago for the first time in a year or two.

"What happened?" Sayid asked curiously.

"A long story," Shannon sighed, not pushing for an answer which led to yet another awkward pause, which Shannon grew tired of very quickly. "So what about you? Why were you in Australia?"

Sayid stared out into the horizon, contemplating his answer, remembering..

_"You can't leave," Nuin said in a desperate attempt, standing in front of the open door like a child._

_Sayid sighed, annoyed by his friend's stubbornness._

_"Give me one good reason to stay," he said, sitting down on an aging couch, "and I will."_

_He looked up at Nuin, who was having a hard time coming up with an answer, and almost smiled in defeat._

_"I have a plane to catch."_

_Standing up, Sayid moved to exit the room, but was stopped once again by Nuin._

_"Just hear me out," Nuin said, closing the door and pulling Sayid over to the dimmer side of the room, blocked by white sheets that covered the window, "you can't go to America."_

_"Why not?"_

_"That'll be the first place the guard will look," Nuin said in a low voice, "you've got to go to the last place they'll expect to find you."_

_"Where's that?" Sayid said, slowly seeing where his friend was getting._

_Nuin looked at him, more serious than ever._

_"Australia."_

Sayid broke away from his thoughts, but didn't take his eyes of the sinking horizon as he spoke.

"I lived there for a few years," he answered, his voice distant in memories, "in Sydney."

Shannon watched him as he spoke, catching the remote look in his eyes, and continued searching him, thinking that he was one of the most calm and collective men she knew, until Sayid caught her.

"What?" He said.

He said it as though he were worried, and the tone made Shannon smile, her herself knowing that at this moment, nothing was capable of going wrong.

"It's nothing," she said, shaking her head, "I was just trying to picture you in Australia."

Sayid looked at her as she let out a small laugh at her own joke. He was actually surprised that Shannon had kept her comic relief level up, and really trying to at that. Not wanting to ruin the moment, Sayid added to it, throwing in his own chuckle.

-

The remaining four of the search party had taken off running as soon as they had heard Shannon's scream. They had followed the path Shannon and Sayid had taken, but had found nothing. Locke was about to suggest back tracking, or taking another path, when he spotted something on the path.

"What?" Boone asked, noticing Locke's gaze to the ground.

Locke didn't answer, but bent down, and wedged a dirt covered bracelet out of some twigs. The bracelet wasn't expensive, but cheap, like the beaded ones that were sold at convenience stores in the racks across from the cash registers.

"Is this your sister's?" Locke asked, showing the string of beads to Boone.

As Boone took the bracelet in his hands, he felt sick.

"I didn't even realize she had it on," Boone admitted, his throat swelling up and his face growing pale, falling.

Charlie looked at the bracelet and then at Locke, who was thinking hard over the situation.

"You don't think something happened to them," Charlie said, "do you?"

"Ethan's still out there," Jack reminded Locke, "you don't think-"

"No," Locke cut in quickly, "this doesn't look like Ethan. There's no struggle, no drag marks. They weren't taken, or at least one of them wasn't."

"What, Sayid?" Jack said, looking at Locke in disbelief. "No, Sayid wouldn't-"

"We don't really know anything about each other," Locke interrupted, "we don't really know what Locke would've done."

"But you really don't think-" Boone started, a pit forming at the thought of Shannon being taken.

Because it would've been his fought. He was always the one saying she never did anything, that she was lazy, self-centered. And then Sayid steps in suddenly, just like that. Why hadn't he seen it before?

"I don't know what I think," Locke confessed, shaking his head.

He then looked to Charlie and Jack.

"But I do think that you two should go start another search party."

"No," Charlie said immediately.

The others turned his way, surprised at the outburst.

"I came out here to look for Ethan," Charlie drew in a quick breath, building up his confidence, "and that's what I'm going to do.

It was quiet for a moment, and for awhile it seemed as thought Locke had been taken aback by the statement, taking it as a personal attack.

"Fine," Locke said at last, "you can come with us."

Boone took it as his turn to protest, as he stared at Locke, incredulous.

"She's my sister!" Boone exclaimed.

"Then go with Jack," Locke said calmly, "but I have to warn you, the earth's rough going uphill, and you might kill two birds with one stone by staying down here."

Boone look at Jack, as if speaking an apology with his eyes, and Jack nodded, understanding.

"I'll go with you," Boone decided.

"All right then," Locke said, throwing his pack back over his shoulder, turning to Jack. "Will you be able to make the journey back?"

"Yeah," Jack said, "I'll be fine."

Yet even as he turned, beginning the trip back, he felt unsure, like a foreboding feeling that something would go wrong.

-

"I still don't see why we're not looking for Shannon," Boone said quietly to Locke as they began their own journey.

Charlie was a little ways ahead, hearing them, but not wanting to have any part in the conversation. Personally, Locke still creeped him out a little, and Boone's trust and companionship with the man was beginning to do the same. Down the entire path, Charlie couldn't help but to feel like Boone and Locke were somehow planning against him.

"Trust me," Locke said with a hint of both mystery and confidence.

"I've been doing that from the beginning!" Boone complained. "And I still don't see where this is going."

Locke stopped, resting his hand on Boone's shoulder as he caught his breath.

"There are somethings in life, Boone," Locke began, "that you just have to wait for."

He let go of Boone, continuing down the path. Boone shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.

"Sounded like a proposal to me," Boone muttered before hurrying to catch up with the other two.

-

Jack was beginning to wish that he really was the human compass, or that at least he had thought to brought one, because if there was one thing he had learned during his island experience, it was that he was directionally challenged. Though the sun was beginning the ending stages of its setting process, its rays still beamed down hard against his neck, and the heat brought tiny particles of sweat that had slowly dripped down from his hairline and lined the side of his face. Stopping for a moment, Jack reached for his bottle of water, knowing getting dehydrated and passing out was the last thing any of them needed.

His hand was almost to the side of his pack that he had brought just in case they got stranded in the woods at night, when the first sounds of rustling trees caught his attention. His hand stopped as the sound around him did, and it seemed like the only other sound in the world at the moment were the footsteps that were growing closer and closer to him. In slow motion, he felt himself reach for the weapon that was in his back pocket as he threw aside the pack, knowing it would only hold him back.

Jack wasn't sure what made him do it, but as if something else was controlling him, the gun in his hand swung around, among at a target he couldn't see. Life skipped a beat, and the next thing Jack knew, was the echoing crack of a gun through the evening's air. Jack's heart stopped, and for a second he began wondering if the bullet had somehow backfired, hitting him instead of his target. But just as the world came back to him, and he was about to decide what he should do next, Ethan stepped out of the trees, unhurt, unharmed. He wasn't smiling like a maniac, but he had the presence of one as he stopped, making sure he had eye contact with Jack. Then coldly, he spoke:

"You missed."

-

"I swear Sawyer," Kate was saying, "once we get back to camp I promise you I'll-"

Her insult was cut short by a loud, ear piercing gunshot that rang through the jungle. Sawyer had heard it, but choose to act as if though it were nothing.

"You promise me you'll what?"

But Kate hadn't heard him. She felt her throat closing up as her insides turned cold, and a sickening feeling grew in her stomach as fear took over.

"Jack," she said to herself, hardly able to say the name as thoughts of the worst flashed through her mind in a slideshow manner.

Not being able to take it any longer, Kate took off running, without giving any hint to Sawyer that she was doing so, or inviting him along.

"Hey!" Sawyer called after her. "Where the hell do you think you're-"

It was useless, as he saw that Kate was already done the path and into the next. Remembering their last incident in the jungle, Sawyer ran after her with no hesitance.

-

On the other island, Shannon and Sayid had been laying back, watching the sunset. They hadn't spoken in fear of ruining the breathtaking scenery, that had an odd romantic effect to the moment and a feeling of longing that neither had understood. The island seemed to have torn them from the world, stripping them of worry and turmoil. It was as if they were the only two in the world, and the only issue would be night falling over them, coloring over the purple-pink-gold horizon. Sayid was moving closer to Shannon without realizing it, and debating rather or not to wrap his arm around her shoulders, which were shaking in the slightest from the cool breeze, when a gunshot echoed through the air, and the scent of gunpowder fogged over the water. Without thinking, Sayid leapt up, charging towards the darkening sea, and diving in.

"Sayid!" Shannon shouted as she was unwilling thrown back into reality. "The tide-"

The thought of being parted with the island almost made her cry, the sadness of it, returning to the world of fear. She stood on the shore, trying to make out Sayid's figure in the water, but saw only that, a blue sea that seemed larger than life, and deeper in meaning. Shannon hesitated, taking in a last memory of the resort, before going in herself, swimming after him.

Author's Note: I'm going to cry! I loved that island! Maybe I'll bring it back.. hmm.. See, what I was trying to create was a place that could totally erase the world in scenery. A breathtaking strip of land that provided much more that looks, and took an emotional effect on everyone. Oh well, I'm just glad I got to use it with Shannon and Sayid. I could just picture them on it, you know? Laying side by side, staring out into the horizon. Well, that's over. Now back to fight scenes and dramatic outburst. This fic is going to be more like two fics into one, I think. I really want Kate and Sawyer to have the drinking game in this fic, after this one scene coming up next chapter. You don't think that's too much for one fic, do you? Oh, and regarding the title, "The Stranger". It's based on a Billy Joel song, in which it describes the stranger in ourselves, the side we never let anyone see, the side we hide away, and show when no ones looking. The side we give into, though never understand. I love the writer's tool of multible meaning titles, and this refers to a few of the characters. Guess which. And many thanks to my many reviews! Loved them! You guys are the best, seriously. Along, of course, with the reviewers from all my other stories. I love all of you guys!

PS: I plan to edit all my stories sometime in the near future, I've reread some of them, and laughed at my mistakes. I don't know what happened in "Hearts and Minds", but the site erased part of my ending!

Until next time..

+ October Sky


	7. Chapter Seven

The Stranger

Chapter Seven

Disclaimer: Yes, the 'say goodbye' line did come from _Pirates of the Caribbean_, which, like _Lost_, I don't own.

"What do you want?" Jack asked, taking a step back.

"You know what I wanted," Ethan said, stepping closer.

"Wanted?" Jack repeated, trying to mask his fear.

But Ethan didn't answer, his eyes darkening, and somehow, Jack seemed to know what would come next.

-

"Will you slow down?" Sawyer yelled as he finally caught up to Kate, and spun her around.

"Let go of me," Kate said between gritted teeth.

"What are you after?" Sawyer returned in the same tone.

"What do you mean what am I after?" Kate cried out. "Jack's out there, with a gun-"

"Woah woah, hold on," Sawyer said, struggling to keep his grip on Kate, "Jack's out there with a what?"

"Come on," Kate muttered, not caring if Sawyer still had his grip on her, but led him down the path.

As she did, she realized that in her mind, she seemed to know where to go, even though she had no idea where they were. The sounds of fighting drew closer, as Kate spotted the first drop of blood on the ground.

"Oh my God," she said, under her breath.

Sawyer rushed over to where she was standing, and bent down, examining it.

"You're in luck," he said with a smirk, "looks like animal blood."

"Be quiet," Kate said suddenly, bending down beside Sawyer, hiding herself from field's view behind a tree.

She drug Sawyer with her.

"What?" Sawyer said irritably.

The last thing he wanted to do was to spend the afternoon looking for the guy who was growing closer and closer by day to the top of his most hated list.

"Shut up or he'll hear you," Kate whispered, her eyes fixed at a scene she was watching in front of her.

"Who'll hear me?"

Kate jerked her head, motioning in front of her. Carefully moving some branches out of the way, Sawyer soon found what had Kate hooked, and it didn't look good. Jack and Ethan had engaged in a full round fight, and Jack had the latter end, and neither Kate or Sawyer could say if Jack was half dead, or half alive. Whichever it was, the situation didn't look good at all for Jack, and all advantages seemed lost. Kate winced as Jack got punched in the Jack.

"You've got to help him!" Kate whispered desperately.

"Help who?" Sawyer said sharply.

Her answer was cut off by the sound of Jack's back hitting the tree, as Ethan went on to fulfill his plan of murdering Jack.

"Sawyer!" Kate gasped, but became muffled as she felt Sawyer's sweaty hand against her mouth.

-

Shannon couldn't think. She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, and she couldn't breathe. She had fought as hard as she could against the waves, but had lost hopelessly, swifting off to the deepness of the sea. The sky was growing darker, and her eyes strained to once again, try and spot Sayid. Instead, she found to her horror that she had floated out further than she thought.

"Shannon!"

Her head spun as she jerked around. She blinked, thinking she had imagined the voice.

"Shannon!"

"Sayid?"

The distant cry for help came again, and Shannon frantically turned to make out where the voice was coming from.

"Sayid!" She shouted again. "Sayid, where are you?"

"On- the rock!" Came the reply.

The rock? No.. she had to have heard that wrong. But as she turned to her left, a blurry image of a rock came to focus. It actually wasn't that far out, and as her vision grew clearer, she realized the rock was actually a cliff, connected to an island. On it lay Sayid, look very much unconscious, with only a little breath to last. Swimming as quickly as she could, Shannon finally made it to the rock, collapsing on it next to Sayid, who turned and looked for her.

"Guess we couldn't get lucky twice," Sayid joked lightly.

"Yeah, well at least we aren't in the water anymore," Shannon sighed.

She looked at Sayid, and realized what was making him sound so weak. A large gash was fixed above his left eye, bleeding steadier by the moment.

"What happened?" She asked, gazing at it.

"I hit the rock," Sayid said, nodding towards the blood that had stained the granite.

Shannon didn't say anything as she thought over the situation, seeing how serious it was.

"We need to get out of here," she said, knowing she was stating the obvious.

Looking at Sayid's arms, she noticed he was shaking, and turning slightly pale from the impact and loss of blood.

"You're shaking," Shannon stated, sounding more worried for Sayid than he was himself.

"Don't worry about me," he assured, meeting eyes with her.

He side, switching gazes to the sky.

"We just need to stop the bleeding."

Sayid then touched his hand to the wound, bringing it back blood soaked.

"How are we going to do that?" Shannon asked, remembering all of Sayid's things were left on the shore of their island, and she didn't have anything.

"See where the legs of my pants have been ripped by the shoes?" Sayid said. "Tear part of that off."

"Are you sure?" Shannon said, biting her lip. "I mean-"

"These aren't even my clothes," Sayid said before realizing how disturbing that sounded.

Shannon sat up, and, hesitating first, did as Sayid had asked, giving the strip of fabric to him. He took it gratefully, holding it to the wound, letting it absorb the blood. As he did, Shannon looked behind her, observing the island they were now on, and found herself thinking it looked fimiluar. Then it came to her. It was.

"Wait," she said suddenly, sitting back up, "this is our island."

"What?" Sayid said, watching her through half blurry, and normal vision.

Standing up, Shannon clutched to the cliff as she tried to climb up.

"Shannon, be careful!" Sayid warned, as he moved to help her, which he found painful to do.

He finally managed to grab onto the large rock, peering over it.

"What's familiar about it?" He asked, confused and trying to ignore the pain in his head.

"The plants," Shannon said, pointing them out to him, "they're different, exotic like. Ad the trees are over grown."

She looked at him.

"They weren't like that on the other island."

"How did I miss that?" Sayid said to himself.

"Try and help me climb up," Shannon said, hoisting her foot on a firm rock.

"No," Sayid said, shaking his head, "I should go first."

"Your head-"

"Will you be able to lift me up?"

Shannon thought about it, and nodded.

"All right," she said as Sayid prepared to climb up.

Just before he lifted his foot off the ground, Shannon tapped him on the back. Sayid turned around.

"Be careful," Shannon said, echoing his warning, "you know, doing this."

Sayid looked up at the five foot cliff.

"I think I can handle it," he said with a small smirk.

As Shannon returned the smirk, he began climbing up, and soon both of them were safely on the ground. Recovering from the climb, and still soaking wet, Shannon looked around, and spoke her thoughts.

"What now?"

On cue, a scream bounced off the trees, and Kate's shriek was set in their mind. Sayid didn't have to say it. They took off running.

-

Sawyer pulled Kate back down to the ground.

"Way to make yourself noticeable," he whispered into her ear, "guess I'll have to go now."

"That was the plan," Kate said, smiling a little.

She had expected to Sawyer to jump in on the action, but instead, his face was frozen, unreadable. One statement was flowing through Sawyer's head over and over again:

_"I've got to tell you, Jack,"_ he remembered himself saying,_ "if the tables were turned, I'd watch you die."_

And now here he was, in that exact situation. But would he let his pride go that far?

-

Back in the fight scene, Ethan hadn't missed Kate's scream. He was just about to give Jack one last punch, sending him down, when Sawyer launched out from the bushes, knocking Ethan to the ground, leaving Jack to catch his balance before falling. Sawyer punched Ethan, trying to get a good hold of him, but Ethan fought back, returning the moves to Sawyer, easily getting the advantage back. Sawyer was being thrown back against the tree just as Sayid and Shannon stepped into the scene, each drenched from head to toe in saltwater. Sayid protectively held Shannon back as far as he could from the scene. Jack stepped back, catching his breath, as if willing letting Sawyer take over the scene. Watching as Sawyer took the negative end of the fight, Jack backed up and stood beside Sayid.

"Where'd he come from?" Sayid asked quietly, nodding to Sawyer.

"I don't know," Jack said honestly as he regained control of his breath, "he just- came out of nowhere."

Jack eyes trailed over to the bush Sawyer had come from, where he could've sworn he heard Kate's scream. Half of him was convinced he was hearing things, the other wondering why Sawyer would be alone this far deep into the jungle. And where was Claire? His head jerked back to the seen at the sound of a grunt from Sawyer as he was punched once more. Ethan grabbed a handful of Sawyer's hair, pulling his head back and holding a knife to Sawyer's neck.

"Any last words?" Ethan said with a wicked smirk.

None of them said anything as Shannon dug her head into Sayid shoulder, hiding herself from the scene. Sawyer and Jack made eye contact, and Sayid watched them, sensing something between the two, like another world's last minute truce. From Sawyer, it was almost in asking why Jack was doing anything to help. Sayid's eyes then locked on Ethan's hand which held the knife that was beginning to move in the slightest against Sawyer's neck.

"Say goodbye," Ethan said in a deep, villain's voice.

The knife was beginning to dig deeper in Sawyer's throat. Ethan's hand pulled back a few centimeters, and Sawyer's eyes began winding in horror as he saw that this was really it. Sayid held Shannon's head, feeling her eyes close tight, though she really couldn't tell what was going on. That was when the bullets came. Five of them, plummeting into Ethan's chest. The knife fell out of Ethan's and Sawyer was let go. He stepped away from the body, touching his hand to his neck, feeling for any blood which, thankfully, was none.

"Goodbye," he said to Ethan.

Ethan was sprawled on the ground, dry blood clotting at his chest. As Ethan's death slowly set to their minds, the question of who did it took over. Feeling Sayid's head turn, Shannon looked up fearfully, seeing what the other three were trying to see.

As the gunpowder cleared, the figure of Kate came into view. She stood, the gun still straight out in front of her, with a frightened look fixed on her face. Sawyer looked down, wiping some of the blood off his face before he spoke.

"Hell Freckles," he said, letting the relief of being able to talk remain hidden, "didn't know you had it in you."

Kate couldn't answer, still frozen in fear and amazement, not able to accept the fact the she had just taken away one's life, and saved one, possibly three, others, all in one motion. Seeing that she wasn't able to handle the thought of movement, Jack stepped towards her, lowering her hand as he brought the gun down. He looked at Sawyer.

"Look, we don't need this right now."

Sawyer glared at him, and at that moment, Sayid was certain that he had imagined the look of truce between them.

"Fine," Sawyer said, "don't want to be here anyway."

He turned, walking away from the scene. Something about Sawyer's glare before he walked off brought Kate back into reality, and she shook herself out of it, struggling against Jack's hold.

"No, Sawyer, wait-"

And she ran after him, leaving Jack to watch her go.

Author's Notes: Sorry that took ages to get out! Hope yall all liked it! Enjoy "Homecoming?" I know I did! I absolutely can not wait for "Outlaws" I'll go crazy before Wednesday! Thanks for all the reviews, I can't believe how well this is going!

To Come- At last, the drinking game! And what happens on the boar's final attempt to get even with Sawyer?

And next fic "Goodbye Yellow brick Road" (temp. title) Jack-centric. What happens when Jack's health gets almost as bad as Boone's, and no one could understand it, except, of course Boone, who's currently missing in the jungle, along with Locke.

I REALLY want to tell Boone/Locke's secret backstory(NON-slash), I don't know if I should do it next fic or Ont. so there might not be as much Boone/Locke(once again, NON-slash) in the next story, more like a search party for them.

And more- oh, and Michael's raft? How can we forget? Who dunnit?

Only I know! (wicked smile). Actually, I don't, I'm still debating about it. I know who's going to be blamed by whom though. Let's just say, some may think Boone's not as innocent as they thought.

Final working summary for Goodbye Yellow brick Road- Jack's health takes an unusual turn as insomnia and hallucinations override him, all in the mist of a tragedy regarding Michael's raft. But while Michael blames Jin, other's accusations turn to Locke and Boone, who have disappeared into the jungle, and what it looks like, off the island.

There should be two more chapter of this. Next will be the drinking game. It could possibly be the last, depending on how far I go with the game. There will be one last Sayid flashback regarding September 11th..

No one will be offended by that, will they? I don't mean to draw attention or arguments, but I think history plays a huge part in Sayid's story.

Once again, thanks again for all the reviews, and sorry for the delay!

+ October Sky


	8. Chapter Eight

The Stranger

Chapter Eight

"Sawyer, wait!" Kate called, chasing after him, repeatedly having to catch her balance as she ran up and down small dunes in the path.

Sawyer was walking ahead of her as well as he could, still weak from the fight.

"Hey!" She shouted, finally catching up to him a few minutes later. "I'm talking to you!"

She turned him around, forcing him to face her. His bloodied up face caught her off guard, and in some since made her nervous.

"What?" Sawyer demanded.

"What is it with you?" She asked, annoyed by his stubbornness. "You're getting worse than Jack."

"Worse than Jack?" Sawyer repeated. "Hell, don't you know if the world was worst then Jack we'd have our own little utopia?"

Kate's eyebrow raised playfully at the word.

"What, did Ethan knock a side of your brain on?" She teased, but then grew serious again. "Seriously, what's wrong with you?"

"What do you mean what's wrong with me?" Sawyer asked, turning around and beginning to walk down the path again, though he had no clue where it led to.

"You just saved someone's life and you're just going to walk away?" Kate questioned.

"What, do you want me to gloat about it?"

"You could of at least said something," Kate said, "and you did this with Claire too. Why can't you take some credit for once?"

"Sorry Sweetheart," Sawyer said, "but credit ain't gonna boost my social level, if that's what you're thinking."

"Are you even trying to boost your 'social level'?" Kate asked. "Because it doesn't look like it."

"Then what does it look like?"

"It looks like you still just want to be hated, like you think you deserve it or something," Kate said, carefully watching where she stepped on the unfamiliar path. "Like you can't let go."

Sawyer didn't answer, pretending like he didn't hear her.

"You can't, can you?" Kate pressured. "You just can't accept the fact that that was the past and this is- now. You have a chance to change, why can't you take it?"

Spinning around, Sawyer looked at her with a face that scared her, and not just because of the blood.

"Some people can't be changed," Sawyer said so that only she can hear.

He shook himself out of it, turning back around.

"And why do you have to be so damn dramatic all the time anyway?

-

It had taken Sayid, Shannon, and Jack nearly two hours to make it back to the caves, and Sayid and Shannon were surprised to still find themselves soaked to the bone and shivering from the cold night, or at least it was cold to them. Jack had very reluctantly returned, naturally wanting to go after Kate. Sayid had finally convinced him that going off in the jungle at night was a bad idea, especially as injured as Jack was. Even if he had found Kate, Sayid had said, he wouldn't be very much help. Being the least injured of all, Shannon found herself taking over the worry for the two others, wondering what would happen if one of them(or both) took a turn for the worse. Luckily, Jack had held up, and made it back to the caves without further injury. They entered the caves with only Hurley and Michael up, both watching over Locke. Hurley, they supposed, had taken responsibility of keeping an eye on Claire's cave.

"What, did you go for a swim?" Michael joked to Shannon and Sayid.

They didn't take the joke willingly as Michael leaned over, handing them some blankets that had been laying, unoccupied in the corner.

"Swim would be an understatement," Sayid said bitterly as he took one.

Trembling, Shannon accepted one as well, and sat down opposite the fire Michael and Hurley had made. She let the fire warm her a little before speaking.

"Is Boone around?" She asked, looking from Michael to Hurley.

"Um.. he's out with Locke," Hurley said.

"Yeah, I thought they went with you," Michael said, looking up at Jack who held a towel to a wound on his forehead.

"They were," Jack said, "but we split up. They aren't back?"

"No dude," Hurley said, "no one's been around all night. Kinda creepy actually."

"So where's Charlie?" Michael asked Jack.

Jack glanced at Sayid, and they both seem to realized something at the same time.

"He's with Locke and Boone," Jack said.

"Shouldn't they all be back?" Hurley said, quickly growing into the conversation. "It's eleven thirty."

Sayid looked up at Jack.

"He's right."

Jack thought about it, and found that in just doing so, his head begun to ace, his brain protesting.

"If they're not back by morning, will go look for them," he said finally.

"All right, well, you three have fun with that," Hurley said, standing up.

He turned to Jack.

"Can you take over Claire?"

Jack nodded, knowing he wouldn't be able to sleep anyway.

"Cool."

Once Hurley left, Jack did the same, heading towards his caves, leaving Michael, Shannon, and Sayid. Michael glanced at the two soaked castaways, and suddenly felt uneasy.

"I'm going to go carry Walt back to our cave," he said, standing up, "not all that safe out here, in the open, you know?"

Michael stood up, and carefully picking up the sleeping form of Walt, walked out of the caves. Shannon and Sayid were a little amused by the situation, knowing for a fact that Hurley was up late every night, and that Michael and Walt didn't even have their own caves.

"How is it that I feel we've just been set up?" Sayid said as he smiled a little, and turned to Shannon.

Shannon let out a small laugh, tucking a strand of lose, wet hair back behind her ear.

"Yeah," she agreed, looking at Shannon, "but you know, I'm beginning to think. Maybe being stranded on that island wasn't the worst thing in the world."

Sayid nodded, not able to give an answer. In truth, he was a little embarrassed to admit the effect the island had on him, forcing out a romantic side he hadn't known he had, or just the calm, relaxed feel of it. The fire crackled, and the sparks rose up, disappearing only inches before reaching the ceiling. Shannon decided to take in the moment for a while, other than interrupting it. After a few second, however, she felt awkward, like schoolgirl who didn't want her friends to know she had just had her first date. She turned to Sayid, unable to stand the paranoid feeling any longer.

"So you'll put out the fire?"

Snapping out of his daze, Sayid processed her question.

"I'll put it out," he said, nodding.

He didn't want to admit that he didn't want their conversation, or even just the two together, to break apart so soon, so he decided to put on an innocent worrying act. Of course, most of it was actually true.

"You should stay in here tonight," Sayid suggested, "if you stay out wet like that, you might get sick."

"And I'm sure that's the last thing you want," Shannon teased him.

His eyes narrowed at her suggestion, showing that he was serious.

"All right," she said, "I will."

-

"Remind me to never go anywhere with you again," Kate said resentfully to Sawyer.

"No one asked you to come," he reminded her, "if you hadn't of had to go and play hero in the first place, you wouldn't be here, now would ya?"

"Just hold up a minute," Kate said, resting against a tree.

Sawyer turned around.

"What?" He said with his cocky grin. "Giving up so soon?"

"It's midnight," she pointed out.

"Fine," Sawyer said, throwing his stuff down, "but don't wake me up if the big mean polar bear comes around this time."

"No, I'll just let it eat you," Kate muttered.

"I heard that," Sawyer said, sitting down.

Kate just shook her head, of course he would've, sitting down herself.

"Not to be nosy," Sawyer said, "but unless twelve years with women didn't teach me anything, you look like you could run a marathon. Why'd you stop?"

"You need the rest," Kate shrugged, answering truthfully.

"Oh, I need the rest?" Sawyer said, not wanting to believe her, but knowing it was true.

His head still pounded from memories and results of his run in with Ethan, the scar on his neck stung, and his back aced as well. But he wasn't the one to complain.

"So what were you planning on doing all night?" Sawyer asked her. "Doesn't look like you brought any magazines with you. Or are you more of a mystery fan?"

"Neither, but I could ask the same to you."

"Funny," Sawyer said sarcastically.

Sawyer's face suddenly turned dark in some sick pleasure.

"What?" Kate asked, embarrassed to find herself nervous about whatever he might suggest that they'd do.

"Or we could- do something," Sawyer said playfully, "we are alone."

"In the middle of some jungle?" Kate said, aghast. "No. Actually, I wouldn't 'do anything' with you if you rented me a five star hotel room."

"Well you'll never have to worry about that one," Sawyer said, reaching into the back pack he had been carrying for Kate, "but actually, I had something else in mind."

Really, Kate had dropped it and he had picked it up. She didn't protest to him carrying it, so he just made it his own. He unzipped the middle pocket, and pulled out two bottles of what looked like expensive, strong wine, or possibly worse.

"Where'd you get that?" Kate said, slightly shaking.

What was Sawyer getting her into.

"Found it when you weren't looking," Sawyer shrugged, "just lying there beside some bushes. Guess it's a good thing Ethan and his friends didn't find it first, huh?"

A pit formed in Kate stomach at Ethan's name. She had known she had done right, saving Sawyer, even if he didn't see it, but still. Hadn't she had been telling herself since the crash that she'd leave that part of her behind, the murderer, for good or bad.

"So what do you say?"

Kate looked up.

"To what?"

"Aw, come on," Sawyer said, "I just went through hell trying to beat up a guy that you ended up killing. You don't think we deserve a reward?"

"Reward?" Kate quoted, eyebrows raising.

Sawyer sat the bottle down, sighing drastically.

"Or we can trek of into the monster's liar in the middle of the night," he leaned forward into Kate, his eyes twinkling mysteriously at the knowledge of knowing he was about to get his way, "just hope I don't collapse. You know, fall, right there. You wouldn't want that, would you?"

Kate bit her lip. It was true, obviously, she didn't want that, and secretly, she didn't want to go walking in the middle of the night at all. That left her with only one choice.

"All right," she agreed, regretting it already, "I'm in."

Sawyer sat back, satisfied, as he handed her the bottle.

"How 'bout a game?" He said in his ow pleasure of getting his own way.

"A game?"

"A drinking game," Sawyer continued, "ever heard of, 'I've never'?"

Kate shook her head, looking at him curiously.

"Just say something you've never done," Sawyer explained cheerfully, "and if the other's done it, then they take the drink."

His eyes darkening.

"And no lying on this one."

Kate stared at him in confusion, wondering if he had already known something, but it was too late as Sawyer started the game.

"I've never had a real job."

Looking up at him, Kate saw that he was starting out easier, and she was thankful for that, but still. 'Real job'. What was that supposed to mean. Instead of answering, Kate just shrugged.

"I've never graduated from school."

"I've never lied about a date," Sawyer said with a grin.

_He did that on purpose,_ Kate thought.

This game's never going to go anywhere, Freckles, if you don't take that drink," said Sawyer, his eyes watching her gleefully.

Feeling the peer pressure that she hoped she could laughed about later, Kate took the bottle. It shook slightly in her hands as she slowly lifted it up to her mouth. In a rush, a sour, burning taste filled her mouth, and she choked before forcing herself to swallow the drink.

"When was the last time you had a drink?" Sawyer asked, studying her disgusted face.

"I can't remember," Kate answered truthfully, trying to ignore the sick feeling she was developing.

"Then this should be fun," Sawyer said with a smirk.

"Yeah," Kate murmured, "fun."

"Your turn," Sawyer offered.

Kate hesitated, until finally joining back in, thinking of one that she wanted an answer to.

"I've never told anyone my real name," she said, smiling at him in victory.

But to her horror, Sawyer only returned the grin.

"I've never been in love."

"What?" Kate exclaimed. "Come on, tell me then."

"Tell you what?" Sawyer asked, leaning back.

"Your real name!" Kate said, feeling the drink begin to take its toll on her, as she felt a sudden awareness and excitement erupt in her.

"Only if you tell me yours."

Kate's face drooped.

"What?"

"That's the rules of the game," Sawyer said, getting another bottle ready, "but let's face it, Kate's not really your name, is it?"

Reluctantly, Kate shook her head.

"No," she said quietly, "it's not."

"Then go ahead, tell me," Sawyer urged.

Kate shook her head.

"Uh-uh," she said, "you tell me first."

Sawyer sighed, and looked down.

"Jude."

"Oh come on, it's not that big of a deal!" Kate said. "Tell me your real name!"

"That's it!" Sawyer said, for once with no amused look about it.

"Seriously?" Kate said, eyeing him. "That's it?"

Sawyer shrugged.

"At your service," Sawyer said.

"So you're parents were religious?" Kate guessed.

"Nah, Beatles fans," he said.

They shared a smile for a while, and somehow, Kate knew that Sawyer was really telling the truth this time.

"So how 'bout you?" Sawyer said, ending the gaze.

"Me?" Kate gulped.

"The one and only."

Kate avoid his eyes, determined to ignore the question.

"We ain't go all night," Sawyer said as he reached into his pocket for the pack of cigarets that had somehow survived the fight.

He lit one up, knowing the smell of smoke annoyed her. What Sawyer didn't know was that it bothered her now more than ever, because she knew every time she saw smoke from now on, she'd remember the last shot, and her latest murder.

"Do you have to do that?" She groaned.

"Tell me your name," he said, taking the cigaret out of his mouth, examining it, "and it's gone."

The light was almost to his mouth again, and the smoke was heavy in the air, moving towards Kate.

"All right!" She cried desperately at the last minute.

Sawyer took the cigaret back out of his mouth, thinking about Kate's cry. It was desperate, and a little too desperate for him, like he was saying tell me or I'll kill you.

"Don't be so critical, Freckles," Sawyer said, "and don't forget, they're only names."

_Only names.._ he was right. Why was she acting so stupid?

"Michelle," she said, at last with some relief, "my real name is Michelle."

Sawyer studied her.

"That's it?" He said finally. "That's what you've been hiding?"

Kate let out a small laugh, showing that she knew she was acting stupid.

"The one and only," she said with a simper.

She looked up at him.

"My parents were Beatles fans too."

Sawyer watched her, and realized that she was, without a doubt, the most beautiful girl he had ever been with. Even slightly drunk, sitting in the middle of a jungle on a deserted island, there was still a touch of beauty to her, a sparkle in her eye, even when she had just committed the ultimate crime. And all for him. Suddenly, it all seemed too unreal, and as Kate lifted her bottle, he figured it was all he could do to take some from his too.

-

The fire Sawyer had built hours later crackled in the early morning. Leaning against a tree, Sawyer took out his fifth cigaret of the day, which was actually a record for him, but put it down in second thoughts as he across from him to Kate, who was sleeping on the ground. She had past out only two bottle into the game. He could guess she was a light drinker, but even that shouldn't of caused her to fall that soon, so he could also guessed that was due to the unusual taste of a drink on top of all the weird foods they had eaten during their island life.

Kate had been so honest with him during the game. She had let loose after a while, deciding that secrets didn't matter anymore. Answering all of his questions with little hesitance, she had told him about her blonde highlights in high school, the squirrel she had hit the first day driving, and the flat she had burnt down due to a microwave accident. She had been so honest with him. Or so it had seemed.

Sawyer eased back against the tree, relaxing and letting the dry cigaret hang in his mouth as he reached into his right pack pocket, taking out a piece of paper that had been placed there since day one. He opened it carefully, and stared at its contents.

It was a picture. 'Wanted' was printed at the top, and the number 25,000 ran under the pictures, along with a police number. It was a criminal. Kate. A mug shot, taking a month earlier, and she hadn't changed since then. Or had she? She no longer had the worried eyes or the fear of unknowing she had then. Now she was a completely different person, who would risk her life for the sake of an unfortunate other, and go wondering out to mystery for no apparent reason at all. Yet she still held the suspicion the picture did. In one shot, she told the world that they would never deserve the truth, and that they would never hear it. She was had created an entirely different identity, like Sawyer himself had, becoming some person name Michelle or Kate, whichever one you would know her by. But he knew that that too was a lie, because only the picture could tell him the truth. And it did.

Sighing, Sawyer folded the piece of paper back up, placing it back in his pockets. He threw his bag back over his shoulder, and after making sure the fire was out, picked up Kate, and began the long journey back to camp.

Author's Note: Wow, didn't mean to get so angsty there at the end. So Kate has lied, yet again. How long will she go on? Sorry for those of you anticipating a long drinking game, but I didn't want to ruin it. So I wrote it the best I could, and here it is. Next chapter should be the last. Actually, I don't see right now why it wouldn't be. It should be up tonight or tomorrow, so keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the reviews! And a special thanks to RockedSocks, who explained 'I never' to me(and suggested it) and to bwcheer, who gave me some input that brought together the chapter's ending. Thanks again! Hope you enjoyed it!

Coming up next- Exactly why does Sawyer hate Sayid? What did Sayid ever do to him? Nothing.. or did he? And what will the boar do in a last attempt to send Sawyer a message?

FYI- I think you'll find out Kate's real, real, name in this series. I think in the finale fic. But rather it'll be Sawyer or Jack who finds out, only I know! Jude really is Sawyer's real name, and he was named for the Beatles' song "Hey Jude". I've used the name in a fic before, but that story went nowhere except to the trash. It was a Dead Zone fic. The name Michelle really did come from the Beatles' song "Michelle". Sawyer's parents really were Beatles fans, as am I. Kate's parents were Beatles fans- but when I kill them is for me to know. Whoops- did I say 'kill'? Hehe.. I mean.. disappear without a trace..

Until next time..

+ October Sky


	9. Chapter Nine

The Stranger

Chapter Nine

Sunlight blinded Kate as she slowly lifted her eyelids. She groaned, rolling her head to the side, and her vision was blocked by a big round, spinning, blur. A taste of white and blue in the background told her where she was, and the situation that stood in front of her.

"Sawyer would you please stop doing that?" She groaned finally as the dizzy picture in front of her began to make her head spin.

"Doing what, Sweetheart, I'm over here?"

"Wha-"

"Look to the other side of you," Sawyer said, his voice sounding distant.

Using all the strength she had, Kate turned her head to the left, and after a few blinks, a clearer version of Sawyer came into view.

"Morning," Sawyer greeted, "or should I say afternoon, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Why, what time is it?" Kate asked, trying to sit up.

"One," Sawyer said, clearly amused by the pursuit.

"Great," Kate muttered.

The last thing she needed was the knowledge that Jack had probably worried himself to death over her when the true story was that she was in a hangover. Just the thought of that made Kate sick, and she leaned over to the side of the chair she was laying on, feeling the burning sensation of the vodka make its way up her throat, and soon, all of her inner contents were spilt into a bucket Sawyer had previously laid beside her. After catching her breath and pulling her pulling her hair out of her face, Kate turned and looked at Sawyer. She didn't even have to ask before he knew what the question was.

"What, you don't think I've ever been with a hungover woman before?" Sawyer snorted, standing up from where he had been bent down beside Kate. " Hell, do you think I've never been in a hangover before?"

Kate didn't answer him as she lowered herself back down into the chair, and closed her eyes, hating herself for what she had done. Why had she let Sawyer get to her so easily? What were the others going to think when she came limping like a dead woman out of his tent at one or later in the afternoon? Would she even be able to get up that late?

"Don't worry," Sawyer said, seeing it played all over her face and closed eyes.

She opened them, looking back up at him.

"Told the doc you'd be out pickin' fruit all day like you like to do so much," he said, and as he did Kate sensed that there was some self pride in him that came from telling Jack such, "he ain't expecting you around 'till around five. You know, dinner?"

He grinned as he said it, knowing how Kate would react.

"Don't mention food," Kate pleaded, rolling over again.

"I'll have to remember that one next time," Sawyer said innocently.

Heat was swelling up in Kate's throat as sweat began to trickle down her forehead.

"Wouldn't happen to have any water in here, would you?" Kate asked hopefully.

"Only mine," Sawyer answered, "and it's backwashed."

"Well can you go get me some?" Kate begged. "And some aspirin?"

She absolutely hated having to use Sawyer for living support, but no way was she going to go stumbling into the caves in the afternoon, dead on her feet. And then of course there was the small fact that she felt like she couldn't move a muscle unless absolutely necessary. Like for throwing up, which she suddenly felt the need to do again. Sawyer turned, disgusted, as she did, but didn't say anything of his disgust to Kate.

"Fine," Sawyer gave in, "I'll go, but you dirty up my floor then you're cleaning it up."

In any other conversation, Kate would've rolled her eyes, but as she tried, the dizziness came back to her, and she resulted in closing them, trying to relax.

"You're going to owe me latter," Sawyer muttered to himself as he walked out of the tent.

A mixture of salt and sea lingered in the air from a light wind that had spread the smell throughout the island earlier that morning, but Sawyer didn't mind it. The smell was heavenly compared to Kate's sick, and the cool breeze was everything to the heat that had gathered in his small tent.

He reached the caves a good ten minutes later, greeted by the usual glares that were sent his way whenever he entered. Jack's eyes followed him, he knew, as he walked over to the waterfall, and he knew that no matter what story he gave Jack about Kate, he's never believe him. No one, including Sawyer, said a word as he tightened the cap on the bottle, and move towards the medicine caves. Out of the corner of his eye, Sawyer caught Jack's leg twitch in distrust, thought Jack never said a word as he entered the cave.

"So you've made it this far inland."

Sawyer turned, not expecting anyone else to be in the caves. Sitting in a chair by the makeshift table, Sayid watched him carefully, as if suspecting him of stealing something.

"Why the hell are you in here?" Sawyer shot.

"I was just getting some medicine for Shannon's asthma," Sayid explained, "or have you forgotten she has it?"

"How sweet," Sawyer muttered as he began searching for some aspirin.

"And why are you down here?" Sayid asked, his eyes still following him, determined that Sawyer was up to no good.

"Aspirin," Sawyer said simply, "why the doc has to be so protective of it, I don't know."

"For Kate?" Sayid guessed.

Sawyer glared at him.

"For me."

"Why are you so determined to hate me?" Sayid asked finally.

"I'm sorry, are we breaking up?" Sawyer smirked.

"You've been determined to hate me since day one yet you have no reason to," Sayid continued.

"Well aren't you clever?" Sawyer said. "Sorry to break it to you, Ali, but I can give you a dozen other names of people that have the same grudge against you."

"And what grudge would that be?"

Sawyer stopped, gripping the aspirin bottle he had been holding, with rage that could break it in half. Instead of answering, Sawyer threw the aspirin in his bag, and headed for the door.

"What grudge would that be?" Sayid repeated before Sawyer stepped out.

Stopping, Sawyer lowered his head, knowing it would be useless to leave Sayid with the satisfaction that he was right, and Sayid would never let him forget about it, most likely pestering him about the answer for days on end. He felt weak as he knew he had to answer, and could hardly find the voice to do so.

"My brother died in the second tower," Sawyer said at last, his head bowed and voice so low, Sayid could hardly hear him.

Sayid looked at him in surprise. Never in a million years would he have expected an answer like that from Sawyer, of all people.

"Your brother?" Sayid said finally, never recalling Sawyer talking about any family at all, nor anything about his past, besides the letter he had found.

"Foster brother," Sawyer corrected as memories of that day plagued his mind.

"I'm sorry for you loss," Sayid said truthfully, "but I had no part in that."

Sawyer turned, looking at Sayid.

"Yeah, but you didn't do anything to stop it either."

The words stung him as Sawyer walked out, leaving Sayid with a burden of memories.

_He remembered coming in late from his night shift at a small restaurant around the corner. It was around eight thirty, he thought, and all Sayid wanted to do was collapse in bed after a ten hour shift. Flipping on the light to his apartment he had been living in for a few years in Sydney, Sayid threw his jacket onto the couch(much nicer than his old one) and switched on the tv he now owned. The news station was still on, left over from the night before, but the news was still running, and what he saw horrified him._

_The world seemed to have turned upside down. Smoke filled the cameras until they zoomed out, showing a burning building that Sayid hadn't recognized, but he was still caught in terrified awe at the scene, of people running for their lives and wailing fire engines in the background. Then, right before his eyes, he watched as a second plane crashed into the tower beside it, and screams echoed around him. Sayid slowly backed towards the couch, and was about to sit down before he noticed a shadow in the corner._

_"Who's there?" Sayid said out loud, his voice shaky._

_The figure stepped out, which turned out to be an old friend of his. An old friend he'd thought he'd never see again._

_"Nuin," he said, trying to remain calm "how'd you get here?"_

_"I flew," Nuin replied, just as calm, "asked around, got an address, and I'm here."_

_Once over the shock, or part of the way, of all that had happened in the past thirty seconds, Sayid noticed his friend had aged, and years in the guard had taken its ways on him._

_"What are you doing here?" Sayid said._

_One glance towards the tv told Sayid everything he needed to know. _

_"You didn't-" Sayid began._

_"Sayid-"_

_"Tell me you didn't-"_

_"I didn't have any part in this," Nuin confirmed, "I swear."_

_"Then why are you here?" Sayid asked, taking a subconscious step back._

_"I came here to ask you to come back," Nuin explained._

_"Come back?" Sayid repeated, unable to believe all that was happening. "No, I'm not going back."_

_"The guard will be looking for you!" Nuin exclaimed. "It would just be much easier if you would just-"_

_"I'm not going back," Sayid said in a firm voice, "I'm leaving."_

_"What?"_

_Time seemed to repeat itself as Sayid went into the kitchen, opening a cabinet under a microwave, and pulled out a can of money. He let out a groan as he counted only five hundred dollars. That wouldn't even get him out of the city, let alone country._

_"I'm getting out of here," Sayid continued, "I'm not doing this again."_

_"Will you just listen to me?" His friend pleaded. "We need you, our country needs you-"_

_"I've been gone for years," Sayid said as he searched the place for extra money, "what are the chances that half of those people will even remember my name?"_

_"Then where are you going this time?" Nuin asked, adding an emphasis on 'this time'._

_"America," Sayid said, turned from him._

_"What?" Nuin cried out. "Are you crazy? They won't even let you off the plane! They'll never let you in the country!"_

_Sayid stopped searching, and stood up, looking at his old friend with all seriousness._

_"Something like this could start a war," Sayid began, "and if it comes down to that-"_

_He reached over, picking up his jacket, getting ready to leave._

_"I want to be on the right side."_

-

It was around five thirty and growing dark as Sawyer walked back to his tent. Kate had left an hour earlier, still sick, but able to open her eyes without getting dizzy. He had secretly followed her back to the caves, just to make sure she wouldn't pass out on the way. Jack wasn't at the caves at the time, and apparently no one had seen him for hours for what he had heard, though he was sure Jack would come running to save the day as soon as he found out Kate was back. Shaking his head, Sawyer wondered how one could live like that, running at every hint of danger. It seemed crazy.

The path thinned as he entered the part of the beach where he had set up his new home, away from the tied, and the hangover finally began to hit him as pain shot up his temple. In the process of grabbing his head in pain, Sawyer stopped, sure that he was imagining the site in front of him.

The beach was a mess. Debris of fabrics of close and various other items covered the hardened sand. His tent was torn into pieces, the tarp he had used to hold it up was hanging on ends. Nothing was left of it, and Sawyer felt sick as he forced himself to move forward as something in the sand caught his attention. _Watership Down_ was thrown carelessly onto the ground, random pages torn from it, and an envelope was sticking out of the pages between the front cover and the first chapter. Feeling like he was about to throw up, Sawyer bent down, and pulled out the envelope. He stared in horror as four separate papers fell into his hands- someone had ripped it in half.

"Dammit!" He shouted, knowing no one would here him and wouldn't care if he did.

His thoughts then switched to who would do this. Kate had been here all afternoon, so it had to be sometime between four and six. Everyone had been at the caves, and who wasn't there was at the beach. But then he realized- everyone was there. Everyone, that was, except for.. Jack.

Author's Note: What an ending, huh? Thanks for all the reviews I got! I can't believe I past thirty! I really hope that no one was offended by Sayid's flashback. Really. I apologize greatly if you were. Next story would be soon, and here's what I have so far:

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road: Jack-centric. Incomplete summary. Basically? A very angry Sawyer, a hallucination/nightmare ridden Jack, a fire, a boar's swan song, and a deadly storm. Sound good?

Thanks again! Until next time..

+ October Sky


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